WIS – Speakers

Women in Sport - Speakers

Jack Sullivan was appointed as Managing Director of West Ham United’s women’s team at the age 17 in May 2017, shortly after they were absorbed into the main club following 25 years as an independent organisation. He has taken the team from part-time to becoming a full-time, professional outfit with a squad of 20 players and 10 permanent backroom staff. In the summer of 2018, Jack led the club’s successful application to win election to the restructured FA Women’s Super League and the team enjoyed a successful debut campaign, reaching the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.

Jack Sullivan, Managing DirectorWest Ham United Ladies

The INF has a Board of Directors comprising of a President, Vice President, Finance Director, a Further Director and five elected regional representatives. The Board is responsible for the key decisions regarding the business of the Federation in between Congress, held every two years. The Board presides over the activity of the INF Secretariat and currently meets three times a year, usually outside the UK. Minutes and reports of meetings are lodged at the registered office of the INF Ltd in the Isle of Man. The INF Board works for netball and netballers around the world.

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Liz NichollCBE, President International Netball Federation

Barbara Slater took up her role as Director of Sport in April 2009. She had previously been Head of Production and Head of General Sports for the department. Her responsibilities include working with governing bodies to retain a broad portfolio of broadcasting rights, overseeing the planning and coverage of major sporting events and leading the sports journalism operation at BBC Sport’s home in Salford. Barbara was responsible for BBC Sport’s acclaimed cross-platform coverage of the London Olympic Games – the most watched TV event in UK broadcasting history. Barbara was awarded the ‘Inspirational Woman Prize’ at the Women in Film and Television Awards in recognition of this achievement

Barbara Slater OBE, Director of BBC Sport

Tracy is the tournament’s legacy programme manager. Tracy oversees and leads the planning and execution of the tournament’s ambitious ‘Inspired By 2021’ legacy programmes, including the recently launched Capital Facilities programme. The role will continue up to and past the RLWC 2021 tournament as Tracy contributes to the tournament’s vision to stage the sport’s best ever World Cup and leave a lasting and impactful legacy across the country.

Tracy Power, Legacy Programme ManagerRLWC2021

Jessica Frey is the CEO of Virgin Sport, a mass-participant event startup funded by the Virgin Group. Jessica started her career as an engineer at IBM, implementing CRM software, before she transitioned into the world of endurance sports and combined her interests in technology and fitness. Before launching Virgin Sport, she led the design and development of technology and strategic initiatives for New York Road Runners, operator of the New York City Marathon.

Jessica Frey, CEO Virgin Sport

Danielle advises on a range of contentious and non-contentious issues in a sporting context, including breaches of regulatory rules, breaches of procedure, good governance, integrity, integrity education, welfare and doping. She has experience of prosecuting before Sports Disciplinary Tribunals, both in person and as junior to leading Counsel. She has extensive in-house experience in the sports sector, particularly in the field of integrity.

Danielle Sharkey, AssociateCharles Russell Speechlys LLP

Hannah is a commercial litigator who specialises in sport and media disputes, reputation management and data protection breaches. Much of Hannah’s work has an international element. She has experience in advising both individuals, commercial entities and governing bodies on matters relating to integrity, including breaches of rules and regulations, conducting investigations and reputation management issues.

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Hannah Kent, AssociateCharles Russell Speechlys LLP

Evelyn Watta is a Kenyan Sports Journalist working at the Olympic Channel in Madrid. She is also the Vice President of the International Sports Writers Association, AIPS. Evelyn began her career in Kenya 19 years ago at the Broadcasting arm of the Nation Media Group, the largest media group in East and Central Africa. Evelyn has since worked across various media platforms contributing to newspapers, online and other digital platforms. In 2014 she was named the CNN Africa journalist of the year.

Evelyn Watta, Vice PresidentInternational Sports Press Association

Nina Seepers is responsible for all marketing activities concerning Generation Z at Dutch Premier League club AZ Alkmaar, a football club known for innovation and a personal approach. After gaining experience at Second League club Almere City FC, Nina has joined AZ in it’s mission to improve fan communication fan engagement and the stadium experience. By means of utilizing AZ’s main influencers; the players, Nina aims to reach the young fans in a personal and innovative manner.

Nina Seepers, Marketing – Generation ZAZ Alkmaar

Heather is a specialist in creating world-class guest experiences for global mega events. Heather leads her clients in designing the end-to-end customer journey surrounding the main attraction, ensuring that meticulous operational planning and innovative creative design deliver an unforgettable experience. Lively and personable, Heather began her career in the music industry, working with the Spice Girls and Annie Lennox as Head of Touring for 19 Entertainment. She led 19 to become the first entertainment property to truly consider the end-to-end journey of their customers.

Heather McGill, Director/OwnerExperience360

Sarah Taylor is the Franchise & Team Manager of double Vitality Netball Superleague champions Wasps Netball. Hailing from a background in sports science and education, Sarah has been instrumental in establishing the foundations of Wasps Netball whilst helping to develop and embed a culture that forms the heart of a successful and enduring netball franchise. Her role at Wasps has evolved from part-time Team Manager and Community Lead, into a full-time post that drives the franchise’s financial, community and compliance strategies

Sarah Taylor, Wasps Netball Franchise ManagerWasps Netball

Senior manager of a social enterprise, management consultant and passionate mentor. Alice has been involved in the charity and not-for profit sector since graduating from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Her passion for sports and female empowerment has been essential in helping her develop community programmes for women and girls in the UK, Europe and West Africa. Alice is involved in several sports activities as a trainer and as a participant, her focus is on engaging local communities and use sports to reduce loneliness, and improve health and community spirit.

Alice Piller Roner, Head of Work-Based LearningLionHeart In The Community

Having worked as a sports lawyer for the best part of a decade, and experienced sport as a powerful vehicle for change in my life, women’s sport is a cause close to my heart. I passionately believe that everyone should have the same opportunities, regardless of gender. In 2020, I will solo row 3000 miles across the Atlantic, an endeavor that will push me to my limits. A challenge of this magnitude offers an unparalleled platform to deliver a core message about using sport and challenge to empower and create change.

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Victoria Evans, Legal CounselRed Bull Media House UK

Anthony Morra is a serial entrepreneur and has made impacts in the sports industry with both Bladetech Hockey and Beaconforce. He has years of experience in corporate change management and coaching (soccer), both at the University of Toronto. He is now the Managing Director of the technology company Beaconforce and creator of Beaconforce Sports – an A.I. driven Player Management system that helps coaches apply positive psychology, cognitive behavioral science and neuroscience frameworks in the team environment on a daily basis.

Anthony Morra, Managing DirectorBeaconforce Sports

Dorian’s purpose is to build a better and fairer world by developing in the right way one of the most beautiful tools the world has ever created: Football. He truly believes that Football is the most positive weapon to unite the world. His first step in his journey was to create from scratch a 2.0 educational institution entirely dedicated to the football industry, taught with a practical approach by business experts from all around the world. Enter: The Football Business Academy, which has for main objective to train the future leaders of this beautiful sport in a professional and ethical way.

Hannah leads the World Sailing Trust, running its day-to-day operations including programming, community-building and fundraising. Hannah has a non-profit background with experience working with grantmaking trusts and foundation to develop new programmes within the Impact Incubator at Social Finance Ltd. She previously worked in the UK Civil Service focusing on education. Hannah also sails in her spare time.

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Hannah Hoare, Head of FundraisingWorld Sailing Trust

Jonathan started his professional career at Cuatrecasas, leading Iberian law firm, acquiring a wide experience in terms of marketing and business development. After more than three years in the Firm, he studied two postgraduate degrees in Sports Marketing. After finishing his studies, he led the advertising and sponsorship department at Palco23, the Spanish financial newspaper of reference in the sports industry. Following, he worked for Neptuno Atlético de Madrid Premium (joint-venture between Legends and Centerplate) as a Key Account Manager.

Jonathan Verge, Commercial ManagerCA Sports

Laura has extensive sports disciplinary and regulatory experience, having advised National Governing Bodies and athletes on disciplinary matters, selection disputes, rules, policies and procedures, child protection and safeguarding, gender equality and contractual arrangements. She has advised on and dealt with disciplinary hearings and selection disputes at first instance tribunals, and in appeals to Sport Resolutions and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Laura was appointed to the Sports Advocacy Section of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Pro Bono Legal Advice and Representation Service

Laura Heeley, Senior AssociateWright Hassall

John is a performance psychologist who works with the leaders and their teams to achieve remarkable results under intense pressure. He is an exercise physiologist, performance psychologist and Professor of Practice in Sport Business performance at Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School He works across three industries, sports, business and the military. In the sports world John has a crafted an extensive and successful career working globally as a performance coach preparing international and national leaders, coaches and their teams for European Cups, Premier league titles, County Championships, four world cups and three Olympic games.

John Neal, Head of Coach Development England Cricket Board

Debbie has been a leading figure in sports management and administration for over 30 years. She was the first female in Olympic history to be appointed as the Director of Sport for an Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and also the first female to be appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of a Rugby World Cup. Having been a part of the successful bid team for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, she was appointed as the Director of Sport for the event, for which she was responsible for building and managing a team that comprised over 20,000 people.

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Debbie Jevans CBE, Executive ChairEnglish Football League

In addition to overseeing the global legal teams, Louise’s focus in the UK is on the legal affairs of the Commonwealth Games (both media and sponsorship rights), together with advising the internal teams who work closely with brands, football clubs and other rightsholders to make the most of the commercial opportunities presented to them. Prior to joining Lagardère Sports, Louise spent 9
years at IMG where she ultimately concentrated on the Rugby World Cup 2015 Commercial Programme and Wimbledon. As a mother of two young daughters, Louise has a real passion for both equality and the importance of sport in engaging and influencing society.

Louise Savage, General Counsel, UK and Acting Group General CounselLagardère Sports

Alejandro Varsky (Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a Sports media communications and marketing professional who currently leads the Content Team of the Digital Media House, a key area of the brand new Digital Transformation & Innovation Division at FIFA.
Before joining the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich, Alejandro worked for over a decade for FIFA in and other Digital Outlets in Buenos Aires including Diego Maradona’s official website and the launch of the first FIFA World Cup’s Official website in 2001.

Maggie Murphy is General Manager at Lewes FC, the world’s only club to distribute revenue equally between its male and female teams. She has a background in anti-money laundering, anti-corruption and human rights. Until recently, she was Director of Public Policy and Sport Integrity at the Sport Integrity Global Alliance, prior to which she held a senior advocacy role at Transparency International, the world’s largest anti-corruption organization. She also held roles in Amnesty International and Minority Rights Group International and became a BBC Expert Woman in 2017.

Maggie Murphy, General ManagerLewes Football Club

Sabrina Ibáñez has been the Secretary General of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the global governing body of equestrian sport, since December 2014 and is the first woman to hold this post in the organisation. In her current position and as the former FEI Director of Governance and Executive Affairs, she has played an instrumental role in advancing gender equality in the Federation. Elected the first President of the Association of Paralympic Sports Organisations (APSO) in 2017, she is also a member of the IOC Gender Equality Working Group.

“Kathryn Anastasi has spent the last 12 years building a career in sports broadcasting at talkSPORT. She started out working on the overnight show booking guests and now leads on all of the talkSPORT network’s outside broadcasts. Recent projects include talkSPORT’s award-winning coverage of the England cricket tour of Sri Lanka and the West Indies, as well as the FIFA World Cup in Russia and the British and Irish Lions Tour of New Zealand. She’s won a Radio Academy Gold for Best Sports programme and was once named in their 30 under 30.

Kathryn Anastasi, Head of Live SportTALKSPORT

Elizabeth is a Canadian expat who relocated to the UK in 2017 to join Twitter’s Global Content Partnerships team, managing Sport partnerships. She works closely with some of the UK’s largest broadcasters, leagues, teams, and federations including Sky, Eurosport, BBC, Wimbledon and the European Tour, as well as and global sporting organizations such as FIFA, IOC and IPC. Prior to her move across the pond, she was a Client Account Manager with Twitter’s advertising sales team in Toronto for 3+ years.

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Elizabeth Stranges, Partner Manager, Sport and NewsTwitter

Karen Taylor is the Head of Operations at Fulham Football Club Foundation where she leads on the creation of the operational strategy this includes development of professional partnerships, budget management of all programmes, ensuring safe and good quality operations of over 3-400 sport and education sessions a week and manages a team of over 100 coaches. Karen has worked with big brands such as Adidas and Sport England among others, and was instrumental in Fulham FC being nominated as the EFL Community Club of the Year in 2017.

Karen Taylor, Head of OperationsFulham Football Club Foundation

Eleanor Rowland is the Head of Safeguarding for Fulham Football Club and Foundation where she leads on developing and implementing the safeguarding strategy, this includes working closely with operational staff and coaches to understand their responsibilities around safeguarding. Eleanor works with children and adults who are at risk and in early 2019 successfully led the Club through an independent external safeguarding audit by Barnardo’s where they were deemed as fully compliant with standards and legislation with many areas of excellence. Eleanor has worked within a social care setting for the last ten years.

Eleanor Rowland, Head of SafeguardingFulham Football Club

Emma specialises in all aspects of employment law having joined the employment team over ten years ago. She predominantly acts for employers, including a number of football clubs, media organisations, retailers and Plcs. Emma has particular expertise in the sports and media, logistics and retail sectors. Emma also has vast experience of industrial relations law and acts for a number of clients who recognise trade unions and also advises one of the UK’s largest trade union and professional bodies. Emma’s contentious work covers the whole range of Tribunal claims, including whistleblowing and discrimination claims, and she has been instructed on a number of high profile matters.

Emma Butterworth, Senior AssociateGateley Plc

Kelly Simmons MBE took up the new role of Director of the Women’s Professional Game in September 2018 to help deliver and transform professional women’s football in England. She oversees The FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, FA Women’s National League and the Women’s Pyramid of Football. She was previously The FA Director of Participation and Development, overseeing the implementation of a £200m four year investment programme into children’s and grassroots football. Kelly was awarded an MBE in 2002 for Services to Football and received the BT Sports Industry Award for ‘Leadership in Sport’ in 2016.

Kelly Simmons MBE, Director of Women’s Professional GameThe Football Association

Elanne is the Director of Marketing for SkillShark Athlete Evaluations. Having played and coached a wide variety of sports, she has a tremendous passion for player development and empowering athletes through community. Combining these passions with her digital marketing expertise, the world of Sport Technology is a natural fit. Elanne and the entire team at SkillShark are using innovative thinking to modernize athlete assessments, improving communication and athletic development along the way.

Elanne Krainyk, Director of MarketingSkillShark Athlete Evaluations

ames Roach is an Entrepreneur and soccer visionary who coaches youth and adults with personalised programs for elite and professional soccer players. He has worked with FA Premier League club West Ham Utd within their centre of excellence for numerous years and non-league, working with some of the best talent around the globe. In 2005 James created his world-renowned Soccer Academy, Coach Roach Soccer (CRS) which has 4 Key elements to the Academy. They include CRS Residential, CRS Fitness, CRS International & CRS Matchday Tactics.

James Roach, Founder/UEFA ‘A’ Licensed CoachCRS

Award-winning business man, #1 Amazon Best Selling Author & TEDx speaker Baiju Solanki is now the CEO/Founder of EnSpirit Global: a platform that serves to inspire, educate and connect you to develop your the entrepreneurial mindsets and behaviours in order to create the life you desire. As a businessman of the year, and property investor, his experience extends beyond the realm of enterprise: a trained psychologist, lecturer, speaker and author, he nudges people into realising their power.

Baiju Solanki, CEO & FounderEnSpirit Ltd

After 15 years working for some of the UK’s best-known brands including ITV, News UK and Virgin Media, Rick is applying that commercial and audience-led strategic thinking to participation sport. He has played an important role in some of the most significant participation campaigns of recent years – at Limelight Sports he led the development and launch of I Am Team GB and working with England Athletics This Girl Can Run. Rick specialises in creating audience-led campaigns and products, and is especially passionate about helping more diverse audiences benefit from sport and physical activity.

Rick Jenner, Marketing & Strategy Consultant

Ryan Gordon is the 1 st qualified football coach in the world with MSc Hon’s applied positive psychology and coaching psychology degree. Ryan helps footballers, coaches and executives fulfil their personal and professional potential human to human. With 20 years experience in football, Ryan recognises that it’s not just mastering how to win the game of football, it’s how well you connect with the heart beating people you’re trying to help and communicate your understanding to them.

Sly Walters has worked with athletes that represent MLS, NCAA, OHL, SWIM ONTARIO, SWIMMING CANADA, OLYMPIC LEVEL and Athletes world wide that return home to prepare with Sly Physically, and Mentally for their upcoming season. His unique blend of creative physical training mixed with mental awareness training gives his athletes the edge on a global scale. Sly is also a member of TERNION which is a triad of evangelist who execute the Mind, Body, Sport approach.

Senior Lawyer of the firm Ruiz-Huerta & Crespo, specialist in Sports Law and Member of the AEDD (Spanish Association of Sports Law since 2011). After 8 years as Civil and Administrative Law Lawyer, in 2012 I graduated Cum Laude in the International Master in Law and Sport Management ISDE -IUSPORT. As an International Sports Law specialised Lawyer, I provide legal advice to Clubs,
intermediaries, Athletes and Associations in contractual matters such as employment or image rights contracts, also in Disciplinary procedures regarding Governance, Ethics Regulations, Regulatory matters, Match-fixing, Financial Fair Play, Doping, etc.

Colin is the Clinical Lead Physiologist at BMI Healthcare, a Sports Scientist, UKA Running Coach and Personal Trainer tutor/assessor who works with athletes from beginner to elite, all over the world. He has spent time in Kenya with some of the world’s top athletes and coaches, training at altitude in their quest to reach the top. He has also worked in hospitals, gyms, clinics and fitness centres all over the UK with the general public, amateur and professional sports people, all with the similar aim of improving performance. As a keen running enthusiast himself he is always looking to trial new ways of pushing the limits of human performance. He is a regular speaker at conferences in the UK and abroad.

Colin Thomas, Head of HealthfirstBMI Healthcare

Dame Heather Rabbatts DBE has wide-ranging leadership experience and expertise across sport, business, media, law and government. Originally a Barrister at Law, she moved to the public sector and became the youngest local authority CEO in the UK. She has also served as a Governor of the BBC, a senior executive at Channel 4 and as an Independent Director of the Bank of England. In 2006 Heather led the restructuring of Millwall Football Club and in 2012 she became The Football Association’s first female non-executive Director and Board member. Whilst at The FA, Heather chaired The FA Inclusion Advisory Board. She was also previously a member of FIFA’s Anti- Discrimination Taskforce.

Dame Heather Rabbatts, DBE, FounderWomen’s Sports Group

England and Leeds Rhinos Wheelchair Rugby League star, James Simpson, was unveiled as the first official ambassador of the Rugby League World Cup 2021. James, a lifelong Rugby League fan, joined the Yorkshire Regiment 1st Battalion in 2001 and completed his training at Catterick. He undertook several overseas missions in his ten-year stint in the military from Central America to Iraq.

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James Simpson – Wheelchair AmbassadorRLWC2021

Teodora is the EMEA Head of Sports & Media Partnerships for Google Search. She has been with Google for 9+ years and has extensive experience in Product-enabling Partnerships across Sports, Media, Finance, Languages, etc. Teodora is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Williams College with a Math and Computer Science degree. She is a native of Bulgaria, and currently lives with her two young daughters in London.

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Teodora Ivanova-Limon, Google Search PartnershipsGoogle Search

Jenny is Head of Behaviour Change and Development for Cycling UK in England. She has joined Cycling UK after nine years’ experience in National Governing Bodies for sport in roles focusing on increasing participation and engagement with volunteers. Jenny now leads a team of Cycling Development Officers working to help achieve Cycling UK’s mission of enabling a million more people to cycle through key behaviour change projects including the Big Bike Revival, Community Cycle Clubs and Cycle for Health.

Jenny Box, Head of Behaviour Change & Development – EnglandCycling UK

A rare example of a female journalist in her field, Anna published Eat Sweat Play: How Sport Can Change Your Life (Macmillan) in 2016, a passionate polemic aimed at bringing sport to the female masses. She has covered three Olympic Games, several World Cups, Euros and World Championships, and interviewed some of the biggest stars in global sport. Co-founder of Women in Football (WiF), an organisation lobbying against sexism in the game and championing female role models.

Anna Kessel MBE, Women’s Sport Editor The Telegraph

Lydia is an ex-research scientist who’s had the pleasure of working for, and with, the most inspiring companies in the world to disrupt and innovate through technology. After finishing a Masters in Molecular Biotechnology she worked on the design of genetic primers, before joining IBM as an engineer in API Connect, then spending time in Cloud and finishing her time at IBM in Watson AI.

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Lydia Thomas, Technical LeadGoogle and The FA

Sarah Lewis (*1964) has been involved with skiing on both a competitive and administrative level for over 30 years. She was a member of the British Alpine Ski Team from 1982-1988 and competed in the 1987 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships and 1988 Olympic Winter Games, as well as many international FIS competitions including World Cup and Continental Cups.

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Sarah Lewis, OBE, Secretary GeneralInternational Ski Federation

Tom Watt is a writer and broadcaster with extensive experience in the world of sport. He has written about football for all of Britain’s national newspapers and appears regularly on television, radio and online. Tom also ghostwrote David Beckham’s
million-selling autobiography My Side as well as critically-acclaimed and commercially successful books such as The End and A Beautiful Game. In recent years, Tom has worked as a writer, consultant and producer on a number of feature documentaries, most notably three Football Outposts films and the award-winning Crazy Gang for BT Sport.

Tom Watt, English actor, writer and broadcaster

National Delivery Lead for Table Tennis England- Jenny leads the national team of volunteering and development officers working to support clubs and leagues to improve their members experience in the sport through our core programme Be TT. Jenny also leads the women and girls team, working towards an ambitious target to increase the female engagement in the sport through coaching, volunteering and playing- making the vast opportunities within Table Tennis accessible and available to all.

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Jenny Leach, National Delivery LeadTable Tennis England

Despite being dyspraxic and hopeless at playing most games, Edward has loved sport from an early age as a spectator, official, and administrator. At school, they served five seasons as First XI cricket scorer, the only non-player to win sports colours, and was a successful non-playing house cricket captain. After university, Edward served on the national executive of the National Union of Students, including acting as NUS sports officer, re-launching the ‘Keep Wednesday Afternoon Free For Sport’ campaign. Edward went on to work in the university sector prior to setting up a consultancy practice specialising in governance and risk, stakeholder engagement, philanthropy, and diversity and inclusion.

Tom Sleigh, Vice Chair of Policy and ResourcesCity of London

Denise Westhaeusler has been organizing and managing children handball projects in Australia and Germany for several years. Through her experience working for the Berlin and German Handball Federation she hosted in Berlin serveral events which got kids more active and worked actively in working groups to develop new concepts. An example is the “Kids Handball Days” where 500 pupils came together and participated at different movement stations for a day.

As a former England youngster tipped for the top, Drewe, 40 , admits his career was dogged and undermined by soul searching and self-doubt. It culminated in the big centre-forward going into rehab for addictions and an emotional breakdown after retiring. Nowadays Drewe is putting his experiences to good use helping the next generation of players cope with the pressures and pitfalls of football. His knowledge and ability to nurture players has helped Drewe build a portfolio of clients.

Drewe BroughtonThe Performance Specialist

Sam Caucci has managed and coached sales and leadership teams for publicly held, private sector and franchised companies across the globe. Sam founded 1Huddle a tech startup and workforce training platform that uses games to help organizations better prepare their people for work. With clients across the globe, 1Huddle has impacted people across organizations in a wide array of sectors, with clients including ESPN, Audible (an Amazon Company), the Golden State Warriors, Madison Square Garden and New York Mets.

Sam Caucci, Founder & CEO1HUDDLE

Anna manages sports media partnerships for Facebook across EMEA. She helps sports broadcasters leverage Facebook and Instagram to drive commercial objectives for their FTA, PayTV, digital-born or linear broadcasting businesses. Prior to her role at Facebook, Anna was managing content strategy and rights acquisition for beIN Sports around the world. Having been at the forefront of sports media trends, Anna enjoys passing on her knowledge to students as a part-time professor of sports media at the Football Business Academy, and has guest lectured at universities including Loughborough and Birkbeck. She is very passionate about advancing gender equality in the sports industry and is the founder of WBR Network – a digital-first production company sharing stories of women breaking records in sports.

Anna Chanduvi, Sports Media Partnerships, EMEAFacebook

Anna Hellman has been an integral part of the international sports movement for much of her professional career. Over the past four years she launched, managed, and currently serves as Director for ThinkSport, which was founded by the City of Lausanne, Canton de Vaud and the International Olympic Committee. Prior to that, she spent nine years as Executive Director for SportAccord Convention, involving all of the International Sports Federations, the IOC Executive Board, and up to 2 000 representatives from within global sport. Anna has also worked for Além International, an experienced marketing and event management agency specializing in sport and corporate events.

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Anna Hellman, DirectorThinkSport

Delia is one of the leading executives in media and sport, with more than 20 years’ executive and non-executive experience. Prior to joining The Jockey Club recently, she spent three years at BT Group plc as Managing Director of its c.£1bn TV and Sport division.
Previously she held a variety of roles during 14 years at Sky, including as Chief Commercial Officer of Sky Italia, leading marketing, customer management and digital development for its €2.7bn consumer business; Director of Broadband & Telephony for Sky UK, taking Sky’s Broadband service from launch to three million customers; and Managing Director for Sky Ireland. Delia is a non-executive director of the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Commonwealth Games England, and is on the Advisory Board of The Telegraph Media Group.

Delia Bushell, Group Chief ExecutiveThe Jockey Club

Joanna had 15 years’ experience as a cheerleading athlete, coach and programme owner, before taking on the role of Chair at SportCheer England in September 2019. She is passionate about improving access to the sport for people with disabilities, and played a key role in the founding and establishment of Team England ParaCheer; managing the team in 2016 and in 2017, when they took their first Gold medal at the World Cheerleading Championships. Joanna trained as a contemporary dancer, and has a professional background in dance education and community engagement.

Joanna Gamper Cuthbert, ChairSportCheer England

Rebecca Myers is a journalist for The Sunday Times and the lead reporter on the paper’s annual Sportswomen of the Year awards. She has been at The Sunday Times for four years and was shortlisted for Young Journalist of the Year 2018. This year, she has covered the FIFA women’s World Cup in France, the netball World Cup in Liverpool and the World Athletics Championships in Doha. She is passionate about increasing the participation of young girls and women in sport.

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Rebecca Myers, Journalist The Sunday Times

VICKI ANSTEY IS ONE OF THE UK’S LEADING FITNESS EXPERTS AND FOUNDER OF LONDON’S ORIGINAL BARRE AND BALLET STUDIO, BARREWORKS. VICKI IS ALSO THE FIRST FEMALE HARLEQUINS FOUNDATION AMBASSADOR. VICKI RECENTLY REACHED THE FINAL OF SERIES 4 OF CHANNEL 4’S ‘SAS: WHO DARES WINS’ AND BECAME ONE OF THE FIRST EVER FEMALE RECRUITS TO QUALIFY FOR THE PROGRAMME. Vicki has carefully created and crafted an entirely unique barre fitness programme over the past 10 years and has a dedicated following in South-West London.

Vicki Anstey, FounderBarreworks Studio

Tom has been working on major charity partnerships for more than 20 years, half of which have been connected to the use of sport as a tool for social change. Through the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Tom led a team generating millions of pounds for UNICEF whilst reaching global audiences to raise awareness of the role sport can play in benefitting the lives of children around the world. In 2017, Tom moved to the role of Deputy CEO at Sported; a UK foundation with a network of 3000 community groups using sport for social change across the UK.

Tom Burstow, Deputy CEOSported

Becker Helicopters Group CEO, Captain Jan Becker is living proof that you can fly high in business and life while still staying grounded to family values and making the world a better place. With gritty determination, a global vision and a unique background in nursing and aviation, Jan is an international force for change in the helicopter industry, in business and in women’s and babies’ health. Jan is a captivating, funny, engaging, forthright and thought provoking speaker who passionately shares the keys to successfully captaining your own life, business and health. Jan is the co founder of Becker Helicopter Services which started in a humble tin shed on the Sunshine Coast in 1996.

Capt. Jan Becker, CEOBecker Helicopters

Dr Emma Ross is the Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport. In 2018 Emma led the development of the EIS SmartHER campaign which aims to optimise the support of female athletes within the high performance system through education, innovation and collaboration. This multi-disciplinary campaign plays its part in closing the gender gap in sport by ensuring culture and performance support within the high performance system is equally aligned to male and female athletes in the their pursuit of peak performance.

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Emma Ross, PhD, Co-Head of PhysiologyEnglish Institute of Sport

An energetic and tough-tackling left-back, Claire made her World Cup debut as an 81st-minute substitute against France in the quarter-final (2011). She joined Chelsea in 2007 and is still the current longest serving blue. Claire played a pivotal role in winning the double (league title and the FA cup) with Chelsea in 2014/15 season & 2016/17 season. Rafferty was named in the 18–player Great Britain squad for the 2012 London Olympics. Her international career has been plagued with injury having ruptured her ACL three times. After overcoming this for the third time Rafferty was recalled back into the England squad in late 2014.

Claire Rafferty, Partnership Sales Manager Chelsea Football Club

 Appointed TM Swimming Olympic Games Tokyo 2020  TM Swimming/BOA, 2008 Beijing, London 2012 & Rio 2016 (x3 Olympic Games)
 Team Leader Commonwealth Games England (Swimming) Glasgow 2014  TM for all major Senior National Team events since 2006 (inc x7 World & x9 European Championships  Daily – plan and implement the effective delivery of the World Class Swimming programme
ie National team camps, competitions and activities across Pathway, Senior & Open Water Programmes  Mentor, coach, develop and support our volunteer team manager programme

Dawn Peart, National Programmes ManagerBritish Swimming

Jo sits within the Strategy and Innovation Team at the LTA, developing, implementing and ensuring the long term viability of products and programmes which are specifically targeted at attracting and retaining more women and girls in tennis. Working closely in partnership with Judy Murray, Jo heads up the She Rallies programme – a fundamental part of the LTA strategy to increase, improve and empower the female coaching workforce across the UK. Jo has previously held regional development roles for both the LTA and British Cycling with a specific focus on Local Authority partnerships to implement strategic plans which grow participation.

Jo-Anne Downing, Lead Community Business PartnerLawn Tennis Association

Jo is a broadcaster, live event presenter and voice over artist, she has covered two Olympic and Paralympic Games, commentating for Sailing at Rio and Jo’s stage at London2012 Park Live won the best Live site award. Jo’s passion for sport has followed her throughout her career, presenting The Volvo Ocean Race for two laps around the world, she can be heard in the stadium at England’s Lionesses matches, commentating for Accenture World, Triathlons, Virgin Half Marathon or Hyde Park half. Sport and food go hand in hand so it makes perfect sense that Jo has interviewed some of the worlds greatest chefs and celebs over the years at the following events, Carfest, Taste Festivals world wide, Big Feastival and Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park, The World Cheese Awards!

Jo PickardPresenter/Voice Over/Producer

Natalie started her career in Sports Development in 1999 working for the Birmingham Football Association where she combined her passion for playing the game with developing Girls and Women’s football in the early stages of its growth. In 2010 she left her position as Football Development Manager to work for British Cycling. Natalie was the brainchild behind British Cycling’s successful Breeze programme which saw thousands of women get into cycling through a thriving volunteer network. In 2015 Natalie moved onto British Triathlon as Director of Development. Here Natalie led the development team through a successful period of change for GO TRI, the Women in Triathlon agenda and was successful at securing public investment through Sport England.

Natalie Justice-Dearn, Chief Executive OfficerRounders England

Alex co-heads our firm-wide Sports Business Group and is a commercial IP lawyer specialising in sport. Alex has a wide view of the sports industry. She was an international medal-winning swimmer, is on the board of British Swimming, and has 7 years in-house ‘major events’ experience, having work for London 2012 Olympic Games committee, prior to joining Lewis Silkin. Alex regularly draws on this broad experience to advise clients across the sports industry, but her specialism lies in sports marketing and events. She advises on global sponsorships, image rights, brand protection, ambush marketing, broadcast/media, ticketing, venue agreements and player/athlete agreements.

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Alex Kelham, PartnerLewis Silkin LLP

Jo is the Coach Education and Curriculum Manager at the LTA, where she is responsible for driving and developing world-class coach education. A former pro player, Jo was British Ladies’ Champion, competed in the Grand Slams, and represented Great Britain in the Fed Cup and European Cup. She reached a WTA ranking of 154 before injury ended her short career. As a coach, Jo worked as an LTA National Coach, toured with a top 75 WTA player, and worked as a U.S. college coach before joining forces with four partners from the WTA & ATP Tours to establish Wimbledon Experience (WimX), a performance academy and community tennis hub in East London.

Joanne Ward, Coach Education and Curriculum ManagerLTA

Preeti is the Head of Upshot at The Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports charity funded by The Premier League, The Football Association and the Government. Preeti focuses her efforts on proving the difference sport makes to people’s lives through impact measurement and evaluation. The Football Foundation is well known for its use of innovative technology and Preeti spearheads these efforts by running Upshot, The Foundation’s online performance management system to over 850 organisations across the UK and internationally. Upshot is an online project management tool that helps community projects manage their work, monitor their progress and evidence their impact.

Preeti Shetty, Head of UpshotFootball Foundation

Róisín specialises in the commercial world of sport and has worked with some of the world’s greatest sports rights holders, athletes and agencies, including the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, managed Dame Sarah Storey and Zoe Smith. Before joining StubHub as Head of BD and Supply for UK, Róisín was Head of global partnerships for Fnatic, the world’s most successful esports team, and has experience across lots of different sports including Darts, UFC and more top tiers of football, rugby and cricket. She has worked with many governing bodies both in the UK and international to help develop and secure commercial ambitions

Róisín O’Shea, Head of BD and Supply, UKStubhub

Feminist and former journalist Kate Dale is responsible for delivering This Girl Can, Sport England’s multi-award-winning campaign, which is changing the way millions of people think about exercise and physical activity, and has seen 2.8 million more women get active as a direct result. Prior to this, Kate spent 10 years as a trade magazine editor before becoming a brand and content specialist for major online banking institutions including Barclays. When time permits, she like to takes part in triathlons and learning to dance.

Kate Dale, Campaign lead – This Girl Can and branded campaignsSport England

Jane qualified as a lawyer and in 2001 was appointed as Club Secretary and Solicitor at Sunderland AFC, the club’s first ever in-house lawyer and one of the first in-house lawyers at any Premier League football club. In 2005, she joined the Premier League, rising to become the Premier League’s Director of Governance in 2011. Whilst at the Premier League, Jane had responsibility for maintaining and enforcing the Premier League rulebook, with a particular focus on the rules concerning the transfer system, club ownership, and club profitability and sustainability.

About Us

Launched in 2016, Everything in Sport brings together affluent C level sport executives and decision makers from around the world to meet, network and create business relationships. Joining the sporting and corporate worlds to achieve and accomplish their goals over the course of an event.